List finders



H. L NEILSEN 2,849,815

LIST FINDERS Sept. 2, 1958 1 Filed 001:. 23. 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

74 Hildaur L, Neils'en 4 HTIWRNEK Sept. 2, 1958 I H. L. NEILSEN 2,849,815

7 LIST FINDERS Filed Oct. 23, 1955 j 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

HTTORN'EY LIST FINDERS Hildaur L. Neilsen, Metuchen, N. J. Application October 23, 1953, Serial No. 387,971

14 Claims. (Cl. 40-104) This invention relates to what have become commonly known as list finders which are in the nature of an assembled stack of usually alphabetically arranged sheets or cards upon which may be entered lists of most frequently used telephone numbers or other data to which a user may frequently wish to refer, and mechanical means for opening the stack to a preselected one of the sheets. The invention, more particularly, relates to such devices which may be selectively opened to a predetermined sheet by the single operation of pressing one of a plurality of keys.

Such devices, heretofore developed, have been quite complex both because of the difficulties involved in providing such selective operation and because of difficulties involved in providing for the device to become reset for further use automatically upon being closed. Such prior devices, also, have not been dependable in operation, particularly after they have been in use for some time.

An important object of this invention, accordingly, is the provision of such a device which is simple in structure, relatively inexpensive to produce and dependable in operation.

These and other more or less obvious objects are realized, according to the present invention, by providing plural, substantially similar keys, associated with a base or back cover of the device, each operative with respect to a different sheet in the stack to partially lift that sheet and other sheets and a front cover aboveit to separate themfrom the remaining underlying sheets, and by providing an automatic bail to pass underneath the partially lifted sheets to complete the lifting of said sheets to a position in which they are substantially separated and held separated to an extent which enables the user to refer to a list or lists on one face of the sheet to which the devise has been opened and on the opposed face of an adiacent sheet. The bail is so arranged that, when the cover of the device is moved to its closed position, the bail automatically withdraws from its position underneath the previously lifted sheets. At the same time, the key which had been operated'to yield the mentioned opening operation, becomes reset automatically to adapt the device for further similar sheet-exposing operations. The keys, of course, may be designed to automatically reset themselves, independently of the closing of the device, upon being released by lifting of the users finger therefrom.

Although the present invention may find expression in a fairly wide variety of structures, it is shown, for illustrative purposes, in the accompanying drawings in a single embodiment without, however, limiting it to that particular embodiment.

in the drawings: v V

Figure l is a top planview of a device according to a preferred embodiment of this invention, portions being broken away to show underlying parts.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational View of the device.

' Fig. 3 is a vertical, transverse'sectional view, substantially on the line 3'-3of Fig. 1.

United States Patent 2,849,815 Patented Sept. 2, 1958 Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the device in its fully closed condition.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the device in partially open condition.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary, perspective view illustrating a preferred manner of associating a card-lifting bail with the devices cover.

Figs. 7 and 8 are perspective views of two of plura keys in the device; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the underside of a stack of sheets forming a part of the device.

The device illustrated in the accompanying drawings comprises a relatively flat, shallow, rigid, rectangular base 12 having a back wall 14, side walls 16, a front wall 18 and a bottom 20 which iseither dished upwardly or provided with an inlay to form a flat, rectangular platform 22, upon which, normally, rests a stack of sheets or cards 24 similarly formed with pairs of perforations such as slots 26 at their back margins to receive therethrough a pair of arcuate prongs 28 which are suitably integrated with a cover 34 and curve downwardly and rearwardly through slots 26 much like the rings of a loose-leaf binder to secure the stack of sheets pivotally to said cover.

The cover 30 is substantially fiat and of rectangular shape and of about the same transverse dimension as the base 12. The cover is hinged toward its back end to the back end of the base by means of a hinge pin or red 32 which, as illustrated, is slightly longer than the width ofthe base 12 and extends through the bases side walls 16 and through depending side walls- 34 to form a hinge connection between the cover and the base. In the normal or closed condition of the device, a depending back wall 36 of the cover terminates, at its lower edge, clear of and above the upper edge of the bases back wall 14 so that, as the cover is pivoted upwardly (counterclockwisely as viewed in Fig. 5), the covers back wall 36 swings into the device, beneath the hinge rod 32, until the cover reaches a fully open, substantially vertical position at which it is held against further openmg pivotal movement by engagement of opposite side portions of the bottom edge of its back wall3 6 with a pair of cover stops 38 (only one being shown in Fig. 5) 1n the form of tongues which extend upwardly integrally with the base 12.

The cover has a depending front wall 40 centrally dimpled outwardly as at 42 to provide a recess on the inner face of the wall 40 within which yieldably seats the upper bent end 44 of a resilient catch or finger 46 which is fixed at its lower end to the base 12. This finger acts as a friction catch which holds the cover normally down in closed position but releases the cover, when sufiicient upwardly directed force is applied to the front end thereof to overcome the frictional engagement of said finger with the cover. When the mentioned frictional engagement is overcome, the cover is caused to swing to its said open position and to be held in that position by one or more coil torque springs 48, which extend about the hinge rod 32 and have ends coacting with the cover and the base to hold the cover yieldably in its vertical or open position. The cover may be manually closed against the tension of the springs 48 and be held closedby finger 46 except when the front end of the cover is pried loose from the base in a manner hereinafter explained. It may be seen from Fig. 3 that the covers side walls 34 extend quite closely within side walls 16 of the base and that the cover catch or finger 46 while a lifting member integral with the pressed key engages and initially and partially lifts the predetermined sheet and all. sheets above it, as well as the cover, and a pivotal bail 54 on the cover for engaging the partially lifted sheets so that they are carried by the cover, beyond reach of the pressed keys lifting member, to fully open vertical position.

The sheets 24 normally are supported upon platform 22 and each sheet is formed with a front marginal portion 56 which is somewhat longer than a similar front marginal portion of the next underlying sheet so that the stack of sheets, as viewed from the underside thereof, as in Fig. 9, presents a stepped front marginal arrangement wherein each sheet has a downwardly facing, lifting portion 58 (hereinafter referred to for convenience as tabs) which may be independently engaged from beneath by a lifting finger of a different one of the keys 52 to lift its related sheet and the sheets above it. It may be seen best from Fig. 5 that the front marginal portions 56 extend forwardly of the platform 22 with a space 60 beneath said marginal portions.

The series 52 of operating keys extends transversely of the device in the vicinity of the front end thereof and comprises plural, substantially similar, lifting levers 62, pivotally carried upon a cross-rod 64 suitably supported at its opposite ends by extensions 66 at the front ends of the bases side walls 16, as may best be understood from Figs. 4 and 5. The extensions 66 with the bases front wall 18 define a recess within which the levers 62 are received and are accessible for manual operation. The cross-rod 64 extends through transverse bores 68 in each lifting lever, these bores being only slightly larger than the cross-rod to permit them to turn relatively to the cross-rod. The lifting levers are spaced apart and from the-extensions 66 by intervening washers 70 on the crossrod 64.

The lifting levers 62 are so spaced transversely of the device as to be in alignment with the lifting tabs 58 of the sheets in the device; a separate such lever being provided for each such sheet. Each of these levers comprises a front arm constituting a button 72 which is forwardly of and somewhat elevated relatively to bore 68 to render it readily accessible at the front of the device to enable it to be manually pressed conveniently by the user of the device, and a rear arm constituting a lifting finger 74 which is rearwardly of and somewhat depressed relatively to bore 68 and lies normally within space 60 underneath tab 58 of the particular sheet which it is intended to contact and push upwardly in an opening operation of the device.

The principal difference inthe several lifting levers 62 is that, to compensate for variations in the distance of the several tabs 58 from the bottom plane of a closed pack of sheets, the most leftwardly' lever 62, illustrated in Fig. 7, has a relatively thin lifting finger 74 as indicated by the double-headed arrow applied thereto, while the most rightwardly lever 62, as illustrated in Fig. 8, has a-much thicker lifting finger 74 as indicated by the doubleheaded arrow in that figure. For the reason just stated, the lifting fingers 74 of intervening levers are progressively thicker from left to right of the device as viewed in Fig. 3. The friction finger catch 46 may extend upwardly between two approximately central lifting levers 62 to engage and hold the cover closed or, as shown in Fig. 1, the central lever 62 may be vertically bored as at 76 to provide a clear space through which the finger 46 may pass upwardly for such coaction with the cover without, however, interfering with the operation of said lever.

The illustrated device has thirteen lifting levers 62 and the buttons 72 of said levers bear indicia AB, CD, etc., embracing the entire alphabet, over the series of said levers. The stack 24 consists of thirteen sheets which, likewise, may bear corresponding alphabetical indicia as a guide tothe-user in determining the particular sheets upon which thelists therein should be entered. The lift- 4 ing finger 74 of each lever 62 normally underlies, in space 60, the tab 58 of the particular sheet with which that particular lever is designed to coact to open the device to expose to view the list or lists related to the alphabetical indicia appearing on the button of said particular lever.

If the user of the device, for example, Wishes to expose telephone listings or other listings the items of which start with the letter G, which items are entered on the underside of sheet marked GH or on the top side of sheet EP in the drawing (which actually would be marked GH on said top side and reserved for G or H listings), he, by pressing button 72 of the lifting lever 62 marked GH, would cause the lifting finger 74 of that lever to push upwardly upon the tab marked GH, causing the sheet bearing that tab and all sheets superposed thereon, as well as the cover 39, to be lifted about to the extent shown in Fig. 5, leaving underlying sheets at rest on the platform 22. To achieve this lifting, the said lever action suflices to force the front edge of the cover free of the catch 46, whereafter the torque springs 48 may function to complete the pivotal movement of the cover to its vertical or fully open position.

The practical need, however, is to lift the selected sheet and overlying sheets to vertical position, as well as the cover, and, as the levers 62 are mounted in the base and cannot rise beyond the extent indicated in Fig. 5, the bail 54 is provided on the cover to hold the partially lifted sheets to the underside of the cover so that they will pivot to vertical position with the cover in response to the torque springs 48.

The bail 54, as illustrated, is formed of a bent piece of, fairly stiff wire. A central portion 78 of the bail, as best seen in Fig. 1, is straight and extends completely across the device. Opposite ends of the bail are similar but oppositely formed by a bend rearwardly to form a swing-arm portion 80, thence inwardly through similar, directly opposed holes 82 in and toward the front end of the covers side walls 34 to form journal portions 84, and the ends 86 of the piece of wire are bent rearwardly within the cover to secure the bail against dislodgment from the cover and for other purposes hereinafter set forth.

The bail 54 is shown in its active or card-lifting position in Fig. 5 and in broken lines in Fig. 6. A torque spring 88, coiled about a journal portion 84 at one end of the bail (or separate, similar torque springs at opposite ends of the bail), has one end hooked into a hole 90 in side wall 34 of the cover and its other end hooked around end portion 86 of the bail in such manner that said spring pivotally urges the bail clockwisely and yieldably holds it in its said card-lifting position wherein the bails straight central portion underlies the tabs of the cards partially lifted by the operated lifting lever 62. The bail is held against further clockwise movement by engagement of the bail ends 86 with the inside surface of the top portion of the cover.

The bail 54 normally is held in inactive or non-lifting position against the force of the torque springs 88, when the device is closed, as shown in Fig. 4 and in full lines in Fig. 6, because opposite extremities of the straight central portion 78 are then engaged upon similar top edge portions at the lower ends of inclines 92 formed by the graduated cutting downwardly of the front ends of the bases side walls 16 where the latter merge with the extensions 66. The force of the spring or springs 88, effective through the bail, should, of course, be substantially less than the force effective through catch 46 which holds the cover closed, so that the cover remains closed except as pried open by operation of one of the lifting levers 62.

As the cover rises, upon being thus pried open and a predetermined sheet and overlying sheets are pushed up with the cover by operation of a lever 62, as already described, the extremities of the. central portion 78 of the bail ride upwardly upon inclines 92 in response to springs 88 until, by the time the lifting finger of the operated lever reaches its extreme lifting position and before the springs 48 havelifted the cover materially beyond a position clear of the catch 46, the bails central portion 78, still responding to springs 88, reaches its lifting position shown in broken lines in Fig. 6, whereafter the cover and all sheets held by the bail pivot to and are held in their vertical or open positions.

After having referred to a selected listing appearing either on the exposed under surface of the lowermost lifted sheet or on the exposed top surface of the top unlifted sheet, the user manipulates the cover forcibly to its closed position. Toward the end of this closing movement, the bail rides down the inclines 92 to its nonlifting position of Fig. 4 and the sheets, moving down with the cover, push downwardly the lifting finger 74 of the previously operated lifting lever; so that said lever and the bail are reset to condition the device automatically for later similar use.

A transverse press bar 94 may advantageously be fixed within the cover directly over the tabbed ends of the sheets to compact said tabbed ends and give more positive action thereto in the described resetting of the previously operated lifting lever, as well as to more effectively transmit the lifting movement of card-lifting fingers 74 to the cover. Also, relatively soft rubber or rubberlike feet 96 may be suitably fixed to the underside of the base at the latters four corners to protect a table or desk surface upon which the device rests and to minimize sliding of the device on such a surface.

As illustrated, the base and the cover may be formed of suitable sheet metal, although they may be formed of other suitable material such as, for example, molded plastic. The levers 62 may advantageously be of molded plastic. The mechanical features also may be considerably varied. Without attempting to recite all possible variations, it may be noted that different types of springs may be employed and the levers 62 need not be of the precise form illustrated in the drawings. Also, the lifting fingers 74 may be weighted so that an operated lever 62 will reset itself immediately upon being released, after operation by the user; or suitable springs (not shown) could be associated with said levers normally holding them yieldably in position for operation.

In view of the evident possibility of utilizing the concept of this invention in various structural forms, this invention should be considered of the full scope as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A list finder comprising a base, a cover pivotally movable relatively to said base, a stack of sheets, between said base and cover, having separate, serially and marginally arranged tabs, plural keys associated with said base, each having an operating portion and a sheetactuating portion adapted to coact with a different one of said tabs to separate one of said sheets from an adjacent sheet in the stack and to partially pivot said sheet and the cover away from said base, sheet-holding means movable into holding engagement with said partially pivoted sheet only subsequent to the latters said partial pivotal movement and adapted to constrain said sheet to pivot further with said cover to an open position in which said sheet is substantially separated from an adjacent sheet in the stack, and restraining means, coacting with said sheet-holding means prior to the completion of such partial pivotal movement of said one sheet, for restraining said sheet-holding means from moving into such engagement with said partially pivoted sheet.

2. A list finder according to claim 1, said sheet-holding means comprising an abutment member associated with said cover for movement relatively thereto between an inactive position clear of abutment with all sheets in the stack and an active position in abutment with such a partially pivoted sheet in which latter position said abutment 4. A list finder comprising a base, a cover pivotally connected to said base, a pack of cards between said base and cover, pivotal approximately about the point of pivotal interconnection of the base and cover and having list-receiving portions and separate lifting tabs serially arranged along said packs margin which is remote from said pivotal point, plural, approximately similar card lifters, carried by said base, each having a portion accessible for manipulation and a card-lifting portion adapted to engage a different one of said tabs to partially pivot 21 related one of said cards and said cover away from said base upon such manipulation of the card lifter, a bail associated with said cover and movable relatively thereto between card-lifting and inactive positions, means associated with said base and coacting with said bail, when the cover is in closed position, to hold the bail in its inactive position, and means coacting with the bail to urge it toward its card-lifting position only subsequent to an initial part of such partial pivoting of said one card to constrain the latter to pivot further with the cover to an open position in which said card is substantially separated from an adjacent card in the pack.

, 5. A list finder according to claim 4, the base having an interior platform, supporting said card pack with said tabs protruding from the platform andoverlying a space in which said card-lifting portions are disposed.

6. A list finder according to claim 4, further including spring means operative to urge the cover toward its open position, and a friction catch operative between the base and the cover to hold the cover releasably closed upon said base against the cover-opening force of said spring means. v

7. A list finder according to claim 4, the bail being pivotal relatively to the cover, and the device further including spring means urging the bail toward its cardlifting position, and an inclined surface on the base, in

position to engage the bail as the cover is moved toward its closed position to wedge the bail pivotally toward its inactive position and to hold it in inactive position while the cover remains in its closed position.

8. A list finder according to claim 4, the bail being of relatively rigid wire material and having an integral portion which is movable with respect to the cover and is adapted to abut the cover to limit the movement of the bail to its card-lifting position.

9. A list finder according to claim 4, the bail being pivotal relatively to the cover and of relatively rigid wire material including an integral end portion adapted to abut the cover to limit the movement of the bail to its card-lifting position.

10. A list finder according to claim 4, further including a spacing strip in the cover, overlying said tabs, and adapted to communicate the movement of such a cardlifting portion through a related tab and any overlying cards, thence through said spacing strip to the cover to cause the latter to be pivoted toward its open position upon operation of any one of said card lifters.

11. A list finder according to claim 4, the bail being pivotal relatively to the cover, and the device further including spring means urging the bail toward its card-lifting position, and a surface on the base, in position to engage the bail as the cover is moved toward its closed position to wedge the bail pivotally toward its inactive position and to hold it in inactive position while the cover remains in its closed position.

12. A list finder comprising a base and a cover pivotal relatively to each other, a stack of cards normally enclosed between the base and cover, manually operable operating, means, associated with the base, adapted to preliminarilylift apredetermined one of said cards from an adjacent card and to partially pivot said lifter card and the cover away from the base toward an open position, and card-holding means, associated with the cover, adapted, only after such preliminary lifting of the men tioned one card, to move automatically into engagement with and to hold said predetermined card in substantially fixed relation to the cover to constrain it to accompany the cover upon any further pivotal movement of the latter toward an open position.

13. A list finder according to claim 12, said holding means comprising a rigid, approximately U-shaped, wire bail having a central, relatively straight portion extending in substantial parallelism to a side of the card stacl-z remote from and parallel to the pivoting axis of the base and cover, and similar side arms, at opposite ends of said central portion, pivotally associated with opposite sides of the cover and having portions adapted to abut the cover to limit the bails pivotal movement from an inactive position wherein said central portion is clear of said side of the card stack to a card-holding position wherein said central portion is in position to engage any one of said cards, toward said remote side of the stack, to constrain it to such further pivotal movement with the cover toward open position.

14, A list finder comprising a normally horizontal base having a rearward portion with a card-supporting platform therewithin and an extension forwardly of said plattion catch operative between the base and the cover to hold the latter releasably in its said closed position, a stack of cards normally supported on said platform and having a transversely extending series of marginal tabs overhanging the front end of said platform, each card of the stack having a separate tab, a transversely extending series of substantially similar, selective, opening levers associated with said extension and pivotal about a transverse, horizontal axis and each having a front, manually operable arm and a rear lifting arm the free ends of which lifting arms underlie, serially, the series of said card tabs to adapt the lifting arm of any one of said opening levers to push upwardly upon an aligned tab when the manually operable arm of said one lever is pressed downwardly, to partially open the device by initially lifting said aligned tab and its card and any overlying cards as well as the overlying cover, a bail pivoted to the cover, having a portion shiftable, with the pivotal movement of the bail, between inactive and active positions, the base having an incline with a lower portion adapted to engage the bail, while the cover is closed, to hold the bail in its said inactive position, and spring means coacting between the cover and the bail, yieldably urging the latter to its said active position upon such partial opening of the device to enable the cover to lift with it a lifted card, held by the bail, to fully open position; the said incline constituting a wedging abutment adapted to coact with the bail during closing movement of the cover to pivot the bail back to its said inactive position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,494,167 Faas Jan. 10, 1950 2,541,881 Menning et a1 Feb. 13, 1951 2,573,534 Bauer Oct. 30, 1951 

